Lawsuit filed against jail staff in inmate’s drug withdrawal death
A lawsuit filed this week in federal court on behalf of a man who died two years ago in the Santa Fe County jail accuses jail staff of failing to provide medical care to the man as he lay in his cell dying from the painful effects of opioid withdrawal.
Ricardo Jose Ortiz — a “much-loved father, son, grandson, and brother” who was born in Santa Fe and grew up in Nambé — died Jan. 7, 2016, in the county jail at the age of 29, says the lawsuit, which names several jail workers and the five county commissioners as defendants.
The state Office of the Medical Investigator reported that Ortiz died of acute gastrointestinal hemorrhage, likely due to heroin withdrawal, the complaint says.
Rosa Quintana, Ortiz’s former partner and the mother of his two children, and Cory Hickerson filed the lawsuit as representatives of Ortiz’s estate, with legal assistance from Albuquerque attorneys Carolyn “Cammie” Nichols and Alicia C. Lopez of the Rothstein Donatelli LLP law firm.
Kristine Mihelcic, a Santa Fe County spokeswoman, said the county does not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit portrays Ortiz as a committed father who fell into addiction when he was prescribed painkillers following a back surgery in 2010.
The dependency on prescription opiates eventually developed into a heroin habit and led to the consequences that often accompany it, the complaint says, including run-ins with the law and a cycle of treatment and relapse, with severe withdrawal symptoms in between.
The Santa Fe County jail has no booking record online for a man with the name Ricardo Jose Ortiz. Attorneys for his representatives said in a voicemail message that Ortiz likely had been booked under an incorrect name.
According to the complaint, a jail medical intake report for Ortiz from June 2013 said he used 2 grams of heroin each day and became “shaking sick” when he stopped using.
On Jan. 4, 2016, Ortiz was again booked into the jail on suspicion of larceny stemming from the theft of a handbag from a car, the suit says.
The nurse on staff did not follow intake guidelines with regard to substance abusers, the complaint alleges.
While another inmate said Ortiz was sick the day of his booking, the nurse wrote “N/A” in response to a question on his medical evaluation asking whether he had any current signs or symptoms.
The nurse also wrote that Ortiz suffered from no chronic illnesses, the complaint says, though jail records from his previous stays documented that he suffered from hepatitis C.
The nurse recommended that Ortiz be placed in the general population rather than special housing, such as the medical unit, the lawsuit says, even after Ortiz requested that he be placed in a cell by himself because “I’m going to kick real hard,” a reference to heroin withdrawal.
Jail employees subsequently ignored his withdrawal symptoms, which included vomiting blood, dry heaving and moaning in pain, during his short stay, the lawsuit says.
Ortiz’s body was found naked and dangling off his bed on the morning of Jan. 7, with “fluid all over the floor and walls of the cell,” according to the lawsuit.
The suit requests compensatory awards to be determined at trial, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.
Along with the County Commission, the complaint lists the following defendants: Anne Robinson, an intake nurse for the jail, and jail employees Dylan Chavez, Anthony Valdo, Tyler Lopez, Leonard Garcia and Cristobal Gallegos.